Rates of Incarceration in Delaware

The United States by far has an overall incarceration rate that is among the highest in the world, even when comparing it to countries with worse records on human rights, such as Russia. This was not always the case and, in fact, has become a recent progression.

However, some states have had higher incarceration rates than others, with southern states having a higher rate than northern states. However, some northern states still had a "higher than normal" incarceration rate.

Here is a look at the rates of incarceration in Delaware.

According to a 2013 National Institute of Corrections report, the incarceration rate in Delaware, for example, was 12 percent higher than the national average of incarcerated (in prison) adults per 100,000 people.

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Delaware put away 442 adults per 100,000 people while the incarceration rate of all the states combined averaged 395 for the same period. Maine imprisoned the fewest adults (148) per 100,000 while Lousiana locked up the most (847).

The NIC reported that the inmate headcount in Delaware was 7,004 adults as of Dec. 31, 2013.

More recently, The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, reported that had 5,700 adults in prison. However, the paper noted that nearly 23 percent of that figure were there because Delaware has no jail system and were held while awaiting trial unable to post bail.

Probation and Parolees

Adding to the mass incarceration problem in Delaware, the rate of parolees was far lower than the national average by comparison.

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At 90 people per 100,000 people paroled in 2013, Delaware was 66 percent lower than the rest of the nation (267).

Whether a result of split or suspended sentences, the probation rate in Delaware was also quite high, with 2,209 parolees per 100,000 people in 2013. While not the highest in the country, the rate was 49 percent higher than the national average, according to NIC.

Delaware Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. was very critical of the state's incarceration rate and its inefficacy on the crime rate.

"We are at a very disturbing time in our state's history. Our state has used that crude tactic to the utmost, and guess what the results have been? They haven't been very good. We haven't achieved the reductions in crime that communities with far more challenging demographics have," Strine said, according to The News Journal.

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